"The beige pair of chinos in question were purchased in London at Madhouse's flagship Oxford Street store last month," Barnett reported Tuesday. And a company spokesman told her "the care instructions on this product were not proofed by our buyers who normally concern themselves with quality, style and price of the products they order. ... The wording is clearly meant as a joke but now it has been pointed out to us it is something we will need to be more careful about in the future."

If you're interested in following the Twitter debate, which continues, the proper search term is #sexisttrousers.